Sweeteners?

[torjusg]

Wanting to be self-sufficient at a point in the future I find the prospect of drinking only water to put me a little off.

So how well does honey work as a sweetner (and preservative) in lemonade and jams?

Have anyone here actually tried to boil down maple or birch sap to make syrup? Does it store well? Is it good tasting?

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Toddy]

You're better making the boiled down fruit juice spread if you have no sugar. The honey is good but it flavours *everything* with honey. I suppose you could grow sugar beet and produce your own sugar that way. It's a lot of work and fuel to make it properly.
Fruit leathers are a good way of getting the sweetness too. I make fruit syrups for making hot drinks, puddings and the basis for medicines.
I made a small quantity of birch syrup last year; it's not quick, it needs to be watched carefully and even then it's not sweet-sweet. It is good though Some of the Canadians and Americans will probably provide better answers thatn I can for the maple syrup.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[C_Claycomb]

There are some interesting bits on birch syrup here:
http://www.alaskabirchsyrup.com/abbisy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_syrup

I would have thought that you would be better off trying to keep bees, assuming that you can do so.

For those that drink tea , honey in tea isn't too bad, but it does have a "taste". I would imagine that your local honey has a lot of heather in it, a quite strong flavor.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Honey is twice as sweet as sugar,so you only need half the quantity.If you dont want it to have honey as a dominant flavour,use a more subtle tasting honey such as Acacia.

 

[torjusg]

Thanks for your replies all.

Though it will be in a very small quantity, I am planning on using wild bumblebee honey. They did that in the past around here. Bees doesn't exist naturally here.

Does any of you know if there is any great difference with that type of honey? Taste and properties?

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Toddy]

No difference, it's all good stuff, *but* the wild bees have very small nests and they will lay the eggs in the same space as the honey cells. You really need to have a good look at a beekeepers site Torjusg; modern hives have queen excluders to stop that.
If there are no native bees how are you going to get honey anyway?
If it's only for drinking and jams then just gather fruit, simmer it soft, strain it through a coarse mesh and then slowly simmer it until it reduces to a thick treacley paste. It's tasty and needs no sugar or honey to preserve.

atb,
Mary

 

[torjusg]

There are no native bees, but there are bumblebees.

Thank you for the tip, regarding the jam. :You_Rock_

Torjus Gaaren

 

[C_Claycomb]

I don't know what it is like elsewhere in Norway, but we didn't see all THAT many bees on our hikes around Telemark. I would think you would be in for a lot more walking to find nests.

If it were in this country, I couldn't condone going and destroying wild bumble bee nests to get sweeteners. I am fairly sure you need a license to handle bees at all, and that there is some form of protection for bumble bees...I am not 100% sure, but it would not surprise me. Overall, the bees in this country are having rather a hard time. Many honey bee hives have problems with mites, and bumble bees are not as numberous as they were even 10 years ago.

 

[torjusg]

I don't know what it is like elsewhere in Norway, but we didn't see all THAT many bees on our hikes around Telemark. I would think you would be in for a lot more walking to find nests.

If it were in this country, I couldn't condone going and destroying wild bumble bee nests to get sweeteners. I am fairly sure you need a license to handle bees at all, and that there is some form of protection for bumble bees...I am not 100% sure, but it would not surprise me. Overall, the bees in this country are having rather a hard time. Many honey bee hives have problems with mites, and bumble bees are not as numberous as they were even 10 years ago.

Don't know about protection, but I don't think there are any. The places we hiked in wasn't usually prime bumblebee habitat. They are very common, following them to their nests is not easy though.

There may be an indication that there in fact are more bumblebees now than a few years ago. The last years there has been good berry harvests on many species (blueberry, raspberry and a few others I don't know the English names of).

Torjus Gaaren